I can’t tell you what you should have in your emergency survival kit. What I can do is give you an Idea of what you might need in an extended disaster kit. These are some things that are not customarily part of a lower end emergency preparedness kit.

I could think of a list of a hundred different items that would be nice to have in your survival kit, but what you need to decide on is the type of emergency disaster that you are preparing for, the size of the kit that you need and how much space that you have available. I am sure that you have read many different views on what you need.

Articles and sites promoting kits will tend to lead you into thinking that you need to buy their kit. If you are short on time and not a good at planning, this may be the way to go. If you are a planner (looking up articles like this show that you are a planner), you might consider the following.

1. A rope is an item that I do not see mentioned in the lower end survival kits that I have observed. I would suggest a nylon clothesline; they come in 50-foot lengths. It is strong, and doubled up, would give you extra strength. Its uses are many, you could use it to build a shelter or use it as a life saving tool.

2. Another tool is a lightweight tarp, the kind that you see at the hardware stores for just a few dollars. This can be used as shelter, a blanket, or ground cover. If you buy a survival kit and it has a blanket, is will probably be made of paper or plastic. Some of your upper end survival kits do supply tarps and some even tents with tie down cords. For me personally, the supplied kit versions have their place, but I prefer a larger tarp that I can created a tent, with a floor, and can make a shelter for the night and have other uses for it during the day. Read the rest of this entry »